Movable conveyer rack



April 2o .1926. 1,581,352

E. A. KU EN MovABLE GONVEYER RACK F'led lApril 1l, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet lE o 53 .IgE-x, f Of 2 E m ff Vg l o! vgl; O

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April lzo, 192e. l 1,581,352 E. A. KUEN l KOVABLE CONVEYER RACK FiledApril l1, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr.V 2G, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE.

EUGENE A. IrUnN, or orncl'NNArLoHro, Assranon To v'rire anos. .rconooRANLAMP ooivrrarrv,l or erncINnA'rI, cerro, A coneona'rron or OHIO.

MOVABLE CONVYER RACK.

Application filed April 11, 1924. Serial No. 705,946.

y operations are necessary to complete them.

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In the latter case greater efficiency of production is obtained bydividing a factory into departments, each of which is arranged to takecare of but one operation. Forinstance in the manufacturing ofautomobile lamps, the lamp door which lits over the open end of the lampbody, hasto be passed through several operations before it is completedand ready for assembly with the body. `VIn the making of such a lampdoor, apiece of metal of a shape and size calculated to prevent Waste,is put upon a draw press and drawn into the desired generalV shape. Thisconstitutes one operation. VThe partially finished door must now betransported to another department Where the door rim receives a buiiingoperation, in which the metal is cleaned and freed from scale. After thecleaning operation the doorfisprovided.

manufacturing of this article, vit-.Was necessary to move the articlefrom one department to another. If this is not doney care-L fully thearticle is damaged and loss of time and increased cost of production isthe result.

I have therefore provided a movable conveyer rack comprising a base,uprights mounted at the corners of the'b'ase and connected by framemembers/,and rotatably mounted shelves or racks located adjustably atintervals on the uprights and adapted to be swung into an accessibleposition to receive the articles and to be returned to a safe andvrcompact position Within' the rack for transportation from onedepartment to another.

rack, lie in some of the objects of my inyention Which are to produce arack aitording convenience and ease in loading, as Well as safetyagainst damage to the articles in transporting them to and from thevarious departments, a. further object being to increase the rapidity ofmovement through the departments of the factory with the eifect ofbringingabout a greaterr degree of e'iii clency and reduced cost ofproduction.

A further object of my invention is to produce a conveyer rack` movablein any direction and having rotatably mounted shelves or rack membersadapted to be swung outwardly and loaded and to be thereafter' swungback into closed position. Y

A lfurther object y'in my invention is to produce a movable conveyorrack so designed and arranged thatI it may be ,conveniently and easilyunloaded on' one side While it is being reloaded on the previouslyunloaded side,y or, in other Words to produce a conveyor raclr which maybe', under some conditions of usage, loaded and unloaded simultaneously.v

Another object of my invention is to produce a 'movable conveyor "rackin Which the rotatabiy mounted shelves n'iay bemade adjustable to thetransportationofany article of manufacture and which maybe so adjustedas to accommodate the rack to articles of different sizes and shapes, n

These and other objects are attained in the rack described in thefollowing speciiication and illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich:

Fig. l is a prospective view of my movable conif'eyer rack, showing'tvvoof the shelves or rack members in position forunloading or ready formovement to loaded. position after the articles have been placedthereon.

Fig. 2 is a prospective View upon an enlarged scale, of a supportingmember and Ymeans whereby it is rotatably mounted and adjust-ablylocated.

, 6() The advantages of my movableconveyer Fig. 3 is a prospective viewupon an enlarged scale, of an upper corner of my improved rack.

Fig. 4 is a sectional vieW on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on line 5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. G is a sectional view upon an enlarged scale, taken on the line 6 6of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a prospective view upon a somevvhat reduced scale, of amodified form of supporting element or member.

i-ffy invention of which l have given a brief description, has a movablebase 7 and a framework 8. The base 7 is of Wood or metal constructionand is mounted upon a number of rollers 9. have shown in the draw/ingsfour rollers, one of which is positioned at each corner of the base. Toprovide a means of steering the device l have used rollers of the castertype one end to permit the conveyor to pivot at the opposite end, thusenabling an operative to direct it as he desires.

The framework S comprises a number of uprights 10 mounted on the baseand secured thereto in threaded sockets 11, fixed to the base, and heldtogether at their other or upper ends by cross bars 12.

lhe shelf supporting means consists of primary and secondary elements incooperation, such that the shelf may be adjusted vertically if desiredand may be capable of a rotatory motion with respect to the frame. Theupright 10 and an adjustable collar 14 embody the primary supportingelements, While the secondary supporting` elements consist of a sleeve13, a collar 14 and a block or clamp 15. The sleeve 13 is adapted to litthe upright 10 loosely enough to permit its movement on the upright andmay be held at the desired height by the movable collar 14 engaging thelower end of the sleeve. The clamp 15 consists of tivo separate parts15a and 15b which grip the sleeve 13 When they are brought together.

The shelves that I have used in this conveyei for the transportation ofauto lamp doors embody U shaped members 17 oveI` which the doors may behung, as I have illustrated in the drawings. The supported ends of the Umembers are reduced in diameter, to form shoulders 18, so that when theclamp members 15a, 151 are located on these reduced ends, the nuts 19will force the parts 15a and 15b of the clamp 15 toward the shoulders 18to engage the clamp With the Wall of the sleeve 13. Thus have I produceda rigid, adjustable and rotatable shelf. As a means of retaining theshelves or rack members in a closed and aligned position While theconveyer is being moved I have provided a clip 2O rotatably secured tothe end of one of the shelves and adapted to be hooked over the end ofthe shelf opposite it.

Although I have described my invention being provided with the arms orshelves 17, it may as readily be understood that dat surfaced members ortrays, as shown iii Fig. 7, may be provided if desired. Such amodification would yender the rack usable for other articles. do notintend it to be understood that ll confine myself to the specific formsof article supporting elements disclosed, but have merely illustratedthe tivo forms with the idea of showing the adaptability of my inventionto all article transportation purposes.

ll have described and illustrated this movable conveyer as being oneadaptable to the transportation of annular members. However With veryslight alteration of the eX- tended portion of the shelf the conveyermay be made adaptable to the support and transportation of articles ofany shape or size.

in the use of my improved rack, the articles, suoli the lamp door l havechoosen as an example, having been formed in the first step ormanufacturing operation, are placed, one at a time, by the operative ofthe press, upon the shelves or arms which he has previously swung towardhiin one at a time for the reception of the articles. As each shelf isfilled it is swung to the closing position until the one side of theraclr is entirely loaded. it may then be turned with the opposite sideto the operative so that when this side also is filled it may be quicklymoved to the next department and replaced by another conveyor. Followingthe conveyor to the next department the operative there may swing therotatably mounted shelves outwardly one at a time, as before and unloadthem one at a time until the one side of the rack is unloaded whereuponhe may turn it around and unload the other side While another operativemay reload the side which was first emptied, with the more completedarticle. 0r, an operative may have a rack located upon each side of him,one of these racks being filled `with articles to be Worked upon and theother one being empty ready to receive the articles after the operativehas performed the desired operation upon the article he removed from therst mentioned rack. Thus as may be seen, a continuance of operationresults from the use of my improved movable conveyer rack, which is oneof the principal elements entering into increased efficiency in factoryoperation and decreased production cost.

Having thus described my invention What l claim is:

1. A movable conveyor racl comprising a base, a frame mounted on thebase, a pri` mary shelf supporting means adjustably mounted on theframe, a secondary shelf supporting mea-iis rotatably supported on thefirst mentioned supporting means, said secondary means comprising asleeve, and

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a clamp upon the sleeve, said sleeve being rotatably attached to theframe, said primary supporting means consisting of a collar adapted toform a bearing for the lower endof the sleeve and to be fixed to theframe at the desired position, said clamp being adapted to encircle thesleevev and to be clamped tightly thereto, and a shelf or rack membermounted on the clamp.

2. A. movable conveyer rack comprising a base, a frame mounted on thebase and hav ing a pair of uprights supported in substantially parallelrelation to each other, a 'series of sleeves rotatably mounted upon eachupright, a collar beneath each sleeve and l5 mountedrfor adjustableclamping von each upright to hold the sleeves the desired distancesapartand simultaneously to support them rotatively on the uprghts, aclamp upon each sleeve adapted to be clamped thereto,l an articlesupport extending from each clamp, and meansvadapted detachably toconnect the supports When they are swung toward each other between theuprghts.

In testimony whereof I have hereuntolaflixed my signature. l

EUGENE A. KUEN.

